NEW ORLEANS, La. – Freshman
Elizabeth Khatevi made her move late and pulled ahead of the reigning individual champion to secure the title herself in the women's 6k of the 2024 Southland Conference Championships to highlight Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's and women's cross country teams Friday.
Khatevi broke the school's record for best women's finish at the SLC Championships with a 20:30.98 in the championship effort and is the first freshman in the league to win the women's conference title since 2014. Following the race, she was named the SLC Athlete of the Year and Freshman of the Year to highlight the All-Conference First-Team.
She is A&M-Corpus Christi's third women's individual champion and ninth overall between the men's and women's programs.
Joining Khatevi on the women's All-Conference Teams were freshman
Alicia Finnis on the First-Team and freshman
Embla Hreimsdottir on the Second-Team as both ended in the top-10 at seventh and ninth place, respectively.
The women's top-five was rounded out by sophomore
Faith Ramos and freshman
Micah Mizell. The team tallied 59 points which was good enough for second place for the young team behind Lamar's 43 points.
Freshman
Dominic Kiptum led the men with a fourth-place overall finish to also be named to the All-Conference First-Team. He completed the feat of being A&M-Corpus Christi's top finisher in every race he competed in in his collegiate debut season.
The men's top-five was completed by freshman
Diego Canto,
Enock Kimutai,
Ewan Wheelwright, and
Landon Blankenship as the team finished in fourth place with 125 points behind UIW, SFA, and HCU.
The Islanders also swept the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, after the cross country head-to-head changed to being determined based on Southland Conference final standings. UTRGV finished fourth on the women's side and ninth on the men's side for A&M-Corpus Christi to garner the edge in both and improve to 10-4 in this year's institutional rivalry.
For the Islanders, Khatevi is the second freshman in the last two years to win an individual title after now-sophomore
Mathayo Kiptoo Bundotich won the men's race last season. Head coach
Bryan Jackson has now gone two-for-two in coaching a Southland Conference champion after coming to the Island ahead of the 2023 season.
"The women's team as a whole had their best race of the season today when it mattered most," said Jackson. "Our top-three ran a gutsy race, and I couldn't be more proud of all nine of these women. The future is very bright for this young team.
"On the men's side, we ran into a few teams who absolutely wanted it and ran fantastic today. My hat goes off to UIW, SFA, and HCU for a great race. We will all take ownership, regroup, and grow so that we will be better prepared for next year on the grass."
The Islanders will now look to the NCAA South Central Regionals, slated for Nov. 15 at Texas A&M.
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